The new Banfield Pet Hospital hydrotherapy pool in use during the open day for local practices.

On June 5 and 6, Banfield, the pet hospital group hosted a grand opening of its new pet hospital and mypetstop Pet Resort and Care Centre in Tingley, West Yorkshire.

Banfield is the leading provider of veterinary services in America, operating almost 400 veterinary hospitals. Once the VetSmart group, Banfield has, as its philosophy, a drive to deliver care to pets and their families that is always neighbourly, convenient and affordable. Banfield is committed to providing the high level of care that ordinary pets deserve.

Banfield entered the UK during the Autumn 2003 with its mypetstop Pet Resort and Care Centre in Denton, near Manchester. Most impressively, almost 25% of the clients that have already attended the Banfield Pet Hospital at Denton have committed to enter the Optimum Wellness Plan® which reflects the emphasis that Banfield places on managing the health as well as the sickness of the pets that it cares for.

In late May, mypetstop invited a total of 550 local veterinary practices to take the opportunity to visit the new Banfield pet hospital and to see the facilities that it offers, together with those offered by the mypetstop Resort.

The Banfield facilities are impressive with a large, light open-plan reception area, four spacious consulting rooms, two operating theatres, a fully equipped laboratory for practice use, high quality imaging equipment, piped gases and a high capacity scavenging system. The resort offers state-of-the-art services such as hydrotherapy and rehabilitation, kennelling, grooming and a large arena which, by agreement, can be made available for use by any local society or club with an interest in animals. There is the added convenience of a large car park.

The veterinary surgeons working here enjoy substantial support from the parent company who provide an impressive clinical library, as well as excellent CPD allocation encouraging young vets to work towards their Cert GP qualification.

“Banfield offers me the opportunity to do what I trained to do which is to deliver the best of veterinary care to the pets that I see. I work in a close-knit team with superb facilities and have the chance to develop myself and my skills. I can achieve professional satisfaction and fulfilment but also have time to have a life outside work .” says Gudrun Ravetz, one of the veterinary surgeons at Banfield’s Tingley Pet Hospital.

Melody Chatwin and Claire Clough, veterinary nurses at Banfield’s new Tingley pet hospital explained that working for Banfield has given them more responsibility and allows them to be properly valued members of the team.

“We meet every client that comes here. We have the chance to build a relationship with the client and the pet more than was ever possible before”, commented Claire.

“We get to spend more time with the pets than the vets are able to do and because we see so many of these pets converting to wellness plans, we get enormous satisfaction from seeing so many healthy animals as well as the sick ones.” Melody explained.